Re: [ST] Bike to Bike Communication

[brettwilson21@xxxxxxx]

On radios -  My  partner Sharyn & I use Uniden 1W 40 channel handheld 
UHF radios.
They are quite robust little  units that use three AAA Ni-mH batteries 
each  that last about two  days depending on how much  we chat. We use 
PTT via  a sealed button, velcroe strapped to  the left bar for index 
finger or thumb use depending on how comfortable you are.

Line of sight we get up to 5 kilometers range with  the  radios  in our 
jacket pockets. Typically its about 3k's. In the hills it can be as low 
  as a few  hundred meters. Range can be improved if you  mount the 
radios at a high point such as the top of your screen or on your 
helmet, but we've never seen the need for that. We've just done a 
1500km ride over  three  days and found the  bike to bike capability 
fine for us.

1W handheld radios give a good compromise between size, power 
comsumption & transmission  range, especially for use  on motorcycles. 
If I remember correctly, to double the transmission range you have to 
quadruple your power output which will dramatically increase your power 
  consumption,  which quickly  becomes impractical for bike use. So 
going from  a  1W to a 2W radio will not give you  much in the way  of 
extra transmission range, but it will suck your batteries!

So far we havent added  any  other  devices, such  as mobile phones, 
MP3 etc, but when we  do I'll be looking at the Baher system to  manage 
 it all.

Hope this helps.

Brett.
Sydney.




-----Original Message-----
From: Al Garvin <agarvin@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: ST List <st@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sun, 26 Mar 2006 20:41:34 -0800
Subject: [ST] Bike to Bike Communication

    A buddy of mine and I are going to be riding back to Tennessee in 
May
from California. We are looking for the best bike to bike communicator
system we can find at a reasonable cost. ($300-$400). I have ruled out
Chatterbox, had one and it was a POS. We are looking at Autocom and
Starcom. Both recommend Kenwood Freetalk  FRS (1-2 mile range) or GMRS
1W or 2W for longer range. I plan to hook a XM radio and a GPS to the
unit in addition to the Bike to bike radio. I would like to hear
recommendations from real world users. What we are looking for most is
dependability. We want it to work before we leave and don't want to 
have
to fine tune it on the way. I am planning on using a PTT instead of VOX
setup. We will both be riding solo so we don't need pillion capability.
I am wondering if we need 2W radios. The cost goes up from $80 for FRS
to 250-300 for 2W GMRS. I don't expect we will me much farther that a
mile apart most of the time.
Does anyone have any experience with these two systems? Or know the 
best
place to buy a couple of units?
Thanks,
Al Garvin
San Martin, Ca.
2000 Sprint ST.
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